Fish-cleaning device.



B. R. BRIERLY a. E. H. WAUGH.

Patented Oct. 23, 19W.

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FISH CLEANING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED IEB. 9. 1916.

Patented Oct 23, 1917.

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B. H.' BRIERLY & E. H. WAUGH.

FlsH CLEANING DEVICE.

APPUCATION FILED FEB. 9. |916.

LQQS. Patented Oct. 23,1917.

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FISH CLEANING DEVICE.

APPLlcATloN FILED mm, 191e.

1,244,168. Patented Oct. 23,1917.

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y B. R. BRIERLY 6I E. H. WUGH.

FISH CLEANING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 9. I9Is.

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BENJAMIN E. 'EEIEELY AND EDWARD WAUGH, 0E SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, ASsIGN oRs Tov SMITH CANNERY MACHINES COMPANY, 0F SEATTLE,Y WASHINGTON, A COE- FISH-CLEANING DEVICE.

Specification? of Letters Patent.

i Application 1ed,February 9, 1916. l Serial No. 77,314.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be'it known that we, BENJAMIN R. Burlin-l LY and EDWARD H. WAUGH, citizens of the United States, and residents of the city of Seattle, county of King, State of Viashing,-

ton, have, invented certain new and usefulV Improvements in Fish-Cleaning Devices,'of which the followingis a specification.l

Our invention relates to apparatus for cleaning fish, and.' particularly to yan appa.-v

ratus, which is intended for cleaning the visceral cavity of the fish, after the same has been opened,

Theobject of our invention is to provide. a device which will morey perfectly clean.

this visceral'cavitythanv the 'devices now in use. i

Our invention comprises the novel parts and combinationsof partswhich will here-A inafter be described,y andl then particularly pointed out in the claims.

In, the accompanying drawings we have shown; our device embodied in the form of constructionwhich isnowprefer'red by us.

Figure 1 is aside elevation of` our device, certain parts ofthe framey upon which it is mounted being shown in section.

Fig. 2-is a; transverse section throughthe supporting frame, and, also one ofthe cleaning bruShes being shownin section'.

Fig. 3 is a,plan view of the device shown independently of the supporting frame.'

Figsl and 5. arelike plan views ofthe device, showing modifications in construction and adjustment. Y

Fig. 6 is a vertical section through one; of the devices,- taken upon its axis of` rotation.

Eig, 7 isa face view. ofy one ofthe cleaning disks, differing from those shown 'in the other figures, in having aY smooth periphery.

Fig. 8 is a section through the-disk vof Fig.- 7

Fig, 9iS,anenlargedside view` ofthe section of thecleaning "disk, showing the characterV 'off corrug'ations,-` which we lprefer to u s'eand their relationship as to the` different sheets formingabrush.` i

10 is a'section throughjthey same.

Inaype ofy fishcleaninglmachine, which isbroughftnto large use, the fish arecaught and heldj'byconveyers which carry the fish through adeiiiite path, duringwhich-progress the fi'share acted upon by various apparatusjtov clean them, and remove the n.11--v desirable parts. Our device is intended'for applying to a machine of this general char acter. Y fish is hardly a part; of our presentinvention,` we have shown this only in a frag--v mentary way. f

Figs. lffand 2 show certain of these parts. These, in the type yof machine illustrated show a series of spears or pointedy dogs 3, which are movable toward and from eachi other to engage and to release the These pointed dogs are placed' in the pivot axis of ajchain of which links 5' are shown, and are automatically reciprocated to lengage and to free'the fish at the desired. points. rlfhe Vgeneral outline of a fish has been indicatedtby dotted lines in I+`i'g."1.fk

Before the fish reaches the position where it is to be'acted upon by the devicewhich is thel subject of our' present rvinven tion,it has- .hadfthe headI andtail removed and the abdominal cavity slit, sov as toopen up the visceral cavity from one end to the other.

Looking4 lengthwise of the pathofV travel ofv the fish, the relative position of these parts is herein shown in Fig.,6.

The cleaning apparatus as herein shown, consists .essentially of a disk having the outer zone thereof composed of flexible, plates or disks, which are. adaptedv tov enter the abdominalY slot in the fish, land to rub the entire inner surface. ofl the visceral, cav.- ity.v As herein shownthis disk is composed of a series of plates 10,1which are clamped together by plates 12at each side'thereon, and is secured upon a sleeve 13 which is mounted for rotationupona shafty 141. The shaft 141 has one endwhich is removed at some distance from the disk,.mount`ed sofas tovpermit a slight pivotal movement of; the shaft 14:,.carrying with it thedisk 1,..

The preferred manner. ofy operating.: this disk consists in anchoring'the; pivot. end of the shaft 14 ina sleeve 15, which is mounted upon a'shaft 18, which extends,v parallel with the".direction of travel ofthe fish,and prof viding the end ofthe sleeve 13 adj acentI the shaft 18, with a bevel gear 1G, which. meshes with a companionbevel gear 17, securedto turn withshaft 18.

As the apparatus for carrying the? The shaft 18 is j ournaled by bracket arms 34, which depend from the main frame 4 of the machine.

We have shown two of these cleaning disks 1, placed one close after the other in the path of travel of the fish. One of these is driven from a shaft 18 on one side of the machine, and the other from a corresponding shaft on the other side of the machine. rIhe manner of driving these disks is, however, not the most essential feature of our invention.

The shaft 14 which does not rotate, projects from the end of the sleeve 13, and has a collar 19 secured thereto and forming a thrust bearing for the sleeve 13. Upon its projecting end it has secured a bracket which has two arms 2, which'extend laterally and then upwardly'to forni a yoke. These arms extend up to a point opposite the sides of the fish as they pass by.

To one of the arms 2 are secured a series of spring presser fingers 21, these being bowed inward or toward the fish so as to bear against its side, and press it against the brushing disk 1. One end 26 of each of these spring bars is loose and` has a support bearing against the other end 2 of the yoke.

- The same member which carries the arms i, 2 has a third arm 20, which is provided the disk 1. The upward movement Vof theA arm 20 is limited by set nuts 24. Bythis means the upward pressure of the cleaning disk against the fish may be adjusted, and the disk is free to yield should an unusually large fish be presented thereto.

|The material which we now prefer to use for the plates 10 of thecleaning disk is rubber, and this preferably of a pure grade, without anything in the nature of fabric to make it rigid or rough in its surface. Such a disk has its operating parts, that is the outer or peripheral Zone, flexible so that it may adjust itself laterally, or in any other manner desired to variations in the position .L or size of the fish.

l/Ve now prefer to form these plates or disks 10 with their outer edges roughened or corrugated. In Figs. 1 and 9 is clearly shown a form of corrugating the edges of these disks which we have found to give ing a true peripheral margin, as is shown in Fig. 7, will produce good results.v We do not therefore, wish to be limited to the ust1 of disks having corrugated edges.

In Figs. 1 to 3 the disks 1 have been shown as mounted perpendicularly totherotative shaft, and this shaft is so placed that the disk is in the plane which includes the axis of movement of the fish. In Fig. 4 we have shown a modication of this structure, in which the disk 1 is placed so that its, plane makes a slight angle with the axis of movement of the fish.V In other words the brushing disk instead of lying true in the' visceral cavity, is placed slightly cornerwise or at an angle. v l l In Fig. 5 another modification is shown, in which the position ofthe rotative sleeve 14, is as shown in Figs. 1 to 3 but the disk'l is placed a little bit of from Vperpendicular tol the plane, whereby when rotated it produces what might be called a wabbling movement, its outer surface as it contacts with the fish thus having a certain amount of lateral movement as well as the rotative movement. These positions of the disk may be ,advan-l tageous in certain cases, but ordinarily we believe the position shown inFigs. 1 to 3 will be found satisfactory.

In the preliminary work of cleaning fish,A

that isthe work which precedes the Vacting of these brushes, the contents of the visceral v cavity have been loosened and in the mainv removed. There is however, a sac lying along the inner side of the back-bone of the fish, rin-which the blood settles, and itis sometimes difficult toV get this removed cleanly. Also the interior ofthe fish needs brushing out. VVekhave found that the type of cleaning apparatus herein shown and described effectively brushes the inside ofthe fish, removing all small particles of oal which may not have been previously removed, and also cleans out the blood sac.

It is'believed Vthat the operation of this device willbe evident from the previous description, and does not here need enlarging upon. Y Y j s .n

What we claim as our invention is: .j 1. A rotative brush for use in cleaning the interior cavities-of fish Yand composed of a series of soft, pliable rubberY disks, having a wide outer zone unconfined to permit free lateral flexure. 2. A rotative brush for use in cleaning the visceral cavities of sh comprising aseries of fiexibledisks, the diameters ofsuccessive disks increasing from the outer disk Y at each side toward the center disk Vand, all disks having a wide outer zone which is free to bend laterally. Y v I;-

3. A rotative brush for use in cleaning the visceral cavities of fish comprising a series of flexible disks having their outer zones 11nrestrained laterally and forming a relatively thin brush, the diameters of said disks gradually increasing from the outer disk to the center disk, the outer peripheral zone of said brush having a cross section adapted to fit closely within the base of said cavity.

4. A rotative brush for use in cleaning fish composed of a series of flexible plates secured together in their central parts and free to yield in wide peripheral zone and a yielding presser opposite the outer yielding zone of said disks.

5. A device for cleaning the visceral cavities of fish, comprising a rotative shaft mounted to swing upon a transverse axis, a disk secured to the swinging end of the shaft and having a flexible peripheral section, and a yielding support for the swing ing end of the shaft.

6. A device for cleaning the visceral cavity of fish comprising a shaft having a pivotal support at one end, a yielding support for the other end, a sleeve rotatively mounted upon said shaft, and a disk fixed to the outer or swinging end of the sleeve and having an outer zone of flexible material.

7. A device for cleaning the visceral cavity of fish comprising a shaft having a kpivotal support at one end, a spring supporting its other end, a sleeve mount-ed to turn upon the shaft, a cleaning disk secured upon the outer end of the sleeve, a bracket fixed upon the outer end of the shaft, spring presser lingers carried by said bracket and adapted to engage the outer surface of the fish, and a spring supporting the bracket.

8. A device for cleaning the visceral cavity of fish comprising a shaft having a pivotal support at one end, a spring supporting its other end, a sleeve mounted to turn upon the shaft, a cleaning disk secured upon the outer end of the sleeve, a bracket fixed upon the outer end of the shaft, spring presser fingers carried by said bracket and adapted to engage the outer surface of the sh, a bolt passing through said bracket and having a Vfixed support, a spring carried by the bolt and supporting the bracket, and a bracket stop carried by said bolt.

9. A device for cleaning the visceral cavity of fish, comprising a rotative disk, a yielding support for the same permitting movement in substantially the plane of the disk, an arm carried by the support for said disk, and curved spring bars secured by one end to said arm and extending closely adjacent the side face of the disk.

Signed at Seattle, Washington, this 31st day of January, 1916. c

BENJAMIN R. BRIERLY. EDWARD H. WAUGH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

